Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent estimate she has made of the average time taken to respond to hon. Members correspondence to her Department.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department attaches great importance to the effective and timely handling of correspondence and keeps this under constant review.
The Cabinet Office publishes statistics on Departmental performance which can be found on the gov.uk website and can be viewed here.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps they are taking to use (a) artificial intelligence and (b) data to help increase their Department's productivity.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
DWP is committed to improving its productivity, including through artificial intelligence and effective use of data.
The department is safely accelerating our use of AI to make a real difference for both employees and citizens. We test the feasibility of using AI technology to address business problems using an iterative, test-and-learn approach. We are exploring how AI and innovation can improve DWP’s ability to respond at pace and provide a more personalised and seamless experience for customers. An AI Delivery Board oversees DWP’s use of AI, assuring that it is safe, ethical, and transparent.
The DWP Data Strategy sets out the department’s vision, principles, and priorities, to provide a clear path to enable us to become a data-driven organisation for the greater public good. Aligned with organisational goals, it focuses on delivering excellent services, improving outcomes, reducing costs, and building trust. It will enable DWP to:
With improved access to data and products, DWP will be able to make better and faster decisions. Using data to make better automated and human decisions will improve efficiency, effectiveness and our citizens’ experiences. Increased accuracy of data will support faster local decision making, based on insight on local operational pressures and local citizens’ needs. This will support DWP to reduce fraud and error incidents and improve and modernise citizen services. Business areas will be able to use data to better support citizens by making the right decision quickly and reducing burden.
Within the work of the Department's Service Modernisation Programme, opportunities to harness the potential of AI and maximise our use of data will form central parts of wider activity aimed at modernising and improving the service we provide.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to ensure timely responses to Pension Credit applications.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Department has secured funding for additional staffing to assist with the processing of the additional Pension Credit claims being made. The Department is significantly increasing the resource on Pension Credit to ensure it processes claims as quickly as possible, with approximately 500 additional staff to support the increase in applications generated from the successful Pension Credit take-up campaign.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of sending targeted letters directly to people who are potentially eligible to claim Pension Credit.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
In November we will be writing to approximately 120,000 pensioners who are in receipt of Housing Benefit and who may also be eligible for, but not currently claiming, Pension Credit. We will be inviting these pensioners to claim Pension Credit by the 21 December, which is the latest date for making a successful backdated Pension Credit claim and still qualify for a Winter Fuel Payment.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment her Department has made of the level of food insecurity in (a) England and (b) the South East.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
This government is committed to tackling poverty and reducing mass dependence on emergency food parcels.
Statistics on the proportion of people living in food insecure households at regional level are published annually in the Households Below Average Income statistics Households below average income (HBAI) statistics - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)(opens in a new tab).
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of taking steps to prevent the accumulation of debt among carers due to (a) delayed investigation and (b) non-investigation of overpayment alerts.
Answered by Paul Maynard
The DWP is progressing an enhanced notification strategy for Carers’ Allowance, to help claimants understand when they may have received an earnings-related overpayment, and to meet their obligation to inform the Department of changes in their income and other relevant circumstances. This will be designed to help prevent Carer’s Allowance claimants accumulating debt.
As part of that, DWP is considering the most effective and efficient way of contacting customers when alerted to a potential change in the customer’s income, building on existing communications. This could include targeted text messaging, email, phone calls or letters.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many carer’s allowance overpayment cases that have not been investigated by his Department; and how many such cases there were in each of the last five years.
Answered by Paul Maynard
We are unable to provide a response as it is unclear from your question as to the information you seek.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the levels of benefits on economic inactivity due to ill health.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities
No assessment has been made.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what discussions he has had with (a) mental health professionals and (b) welfare recipients on the treatment of individuals with mental health issues.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities
The Department routinely engages with expert stakeholders to inform policy development. For example, to support development of the proposals in the ‘Transforming Support: The Health and Disability White Paper’, officials met and continue to meet with interested stakeholders and welfare recipients with health conditions and disabilities.
Officials meet regularly with clinical stakeholders from a range of specialties, including those with a mental health background from national representative organisations. When undertaking work on mental health specific polices the engagement increases in intensity to ensure the professional voice is heard and advice is taken in the best interests of our claimants.
The Department has an ongoing health and disability benefits research programme including studies with claimants which often look specifically at the treatment of claimants with mental health issues. For example, we will shortly be publishing the Barriers to Accessing Health Support research, which found valuable insight into the health support needs of disability benefit claimants with mental health conditions. Other research has also been designed to include fluctuating mental health conditions, such as anxiety disorders or depression, and cognitive conditions, such as Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what options are available to those people who have been placed in temporary accommodation in a different Council area and therefore do not meet either Councils' criteria for accessing the Household Support Fund.
Answered by Jo Churchill
The Household Support Fund is an intentionally flexible scheme, designed to enable Local Authorities to deliver a tailored response to local need as they have the ties and knowledge to best determine how this support should be provided.
Local Authorities have the flexibility to design and deliver their Household Support Fund scheme through a variety of routes, including, for example, offering vouchers to households, directly providing food, or issuing grants to third parties. This means that it is for each local council to decide how, where and when they distribute their funding within the parameters of the guidance and grant determination set out for them by the Department for Work and Pensions.
Local Authorities are encouraged through our guidance to work together with neighbouring Authorities to help prevent double provision and/or no provision, especially where the allocation of provision may take place in one area, but the award recipient has a residential address in another.